Fresh Air: Julio Torres Spins Immigrant Stress into Satire

Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Terry Gross (with intro by David Bianculli)
Guest: Julio Torres, comedian, writer, director, creator of Problemista and Color Theories

Episode Overview

This episode of Fresh Air is a rich, playful, and moving conversation between host Terry Gross and Julio Torres, the Salvadoran-born comic and filmmaker known for fusing personal immigrant struggles with magical realism and absurdist humor. The interview traces Torres’ journey from El Salvador to New York, explores the real-life immigration stress that shaped his acclaimed film Problemista, and delves into the creative process behind his one-of-a-kind comedic voice and new special Color Theories.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining a Comic’s Absurdist Lens

[01:24–02:14]

• Torres’ new HBO Max special Color Theories is introduced as “a TED Talk masquerading as absurdist stand-up.” An early bit:
  • Julio Torres on navy blue:

    “Navy blue is the color of Law and Order. Navy blue is the color of having to create an account... This is a census. Navy blue is the color of airports, often literally, because that is the airport's way of saying whatever, your deal is not here.”
    (01:24)

• Asserting the humor in everyday bureaucracy and emotional life through color metaphors.

2. Drawing on Immigrant Experience for Problemista

[02:22–13:45]

• Problemista stems from Torres’s own experiences navigating the punishing paradoxes of the US immigration system.
• Gross sets up the film’s premise: an El Salvadoran immigrant (played by Torres) with visa issues, legal fees, and a burdensome job arrangement with an eccentric art widow (Tilda Swinton).
  • Torres recalls the ATM scene where an overdraft spirals into existential panic:

    “So, what, like an $8 sandwich becomes a $45 sandwich?... I distinctly recall making a cash deposit, and that deposit was flagged as potentially fraudulent. So it’s on hold now. For your protection... But that hold made me overdraw. For your protection. I’m sorry, but do I seem protected right now?”
    (03:48)

• The real-life “catch-22s” of US bureaucracy:
  • Needing a job to get a visa, but not being allowed to work without one.
  • The overwhelming financial burden:

    “The fact that I would have $6,000 saved somewhere, it was just laughable.” (06:51)

  • The emotional toll of relying on friends to crowdfund legal costs:

    “This GoFundMe got me where I needed to be within, like, two or three hours. It was just so moving to feel like a part of a community... I love making art... with friends.” (10:15)

3. Beyond Trauma: Nuanced Immigrant Stories

[10:45–11:41]

• Torres cautions against the “single story” of immigration (fleeing gangs/violence):

  “It wasn't really the story of someone escaping for survival. It’s the story of someone just escaping or leaving for a greater ambition—to find himself.” (10:55)

4. The Invention and Meaning of “Problemista”

[12:25–14:05]

• The film’s title began as a playful, invented word inspired by artistic terminology.

  “I was thinking of what you would call someone in an artistic movement in Spanish, like a surrealist—it's a surrealista. Then, maybe someone who creates art from problems is a problemista... It almost sounds like the kind of thing you'd make up in slang in El Salvador.” (12:25)

5. Artistic Perspective: Thriving Amid Problems

[14:05–16:06]

• Torres admits he’s drawn to problems:

  “I am someone who is certainly attracted to problems and ends up making work inspired by those problems.” (14:05)

• He reframes overwhelming challenges as inspiration and material for his playful, intricate craft:

  “It’s almost like the bureaucracy becomes this bouncy castle that the characters just get to play and laugh about.” (14:18)

6. New York Characters & the Allure of Difficult People

[17:52–19:54]

• Tilda Swinton’s character is an amalgam of real-life challenging personalities Torres encountered as an artist’s assistant in NYC.

  “I am very attracted to difficult people. I don’t see difficult people as nightmares to escape. I’m really drawn to them like a moth to a flame... Although, I was a very incompetent assistant.” (18:30–19:54)

7. Self-Perception: “Too Much,” Not Quite Fitting In

[22:04–23:50]

• Torres reflects on being “too much”—a quirky presence with unusual needs and anxieties:

  “I often feel like I don’t know how to do the very basic things you need to do... I’m this exotic animal that needs very particular things in order to survive and won’t eat the food you give him.” (22:32)

• Shares a distinctive approach to financial life:

  “I have never had a credit card. I aspire to never have a credit card and I aspire to never have credit... It would make me really uncomfortable to buy a home and feeling like I... was in trouble all the time.” (22:51)

8. Inventing Character: Designing Swinton’s Iconic Look

[23:50–26:27]

• Torres and Swinton collaborated deeply on her “fiery,” unglamorous aesthetic:

  “Her hair was just constantly in a fight with itself... She walked away from the hair salon with all these products that she’s supposed to use every day, but of course she doesn’t.” (24:48–26:27)

9. Mother, Collaboration, and the Roots of Visual Creativity

[26:27–28:34]

• Torres’ mother is an architect and designed the magical fort/castle in Problemista.
  • Their lifelong creative relationship set the foundation for Torres’ love of collaborative art-making:

    “I have really come to find that same joy in filmmaking... A director isn’t an all-knowing oracle... A director relies on collaboration.” (27:42–28:34)

10. Standing Apart: The Accidental Stand-Up

[30:38–35:54]

• Torres began stand-up to further his original goal of TV/film writing, not having prior exposure to the form in El Salvador.
• The lack of a comedy template allowed him to quickly find an original voice—abandoning imitations for his unique style.

  “There’s a learning curve... where, like, the first couple attempts... are crude impersonations of what you think that medium should be. Then I quickly give that up and just do the thing that I feel more comfortable in doing.” (34:27–35:54)

11. Giving Personalities to Objects and “Happy Meal” Satire

[35:54–40:21]

• Torres’ highly original material, like giving voice to inanimate objects or marveling at the absurdity of a “genocidal” Disney villain as a toy, springs from a retained sense of imaginative play:

  “The creative exercise of attributing personality and stories to inanimate objects is something that most of us have in childhood... I really disliked adolescence and adulthood so much that I just retained it.” (39:28)

Memorable Quotes

• “Navy blue is the color of airports, often literally, because that is the airport's way of saying whatever, your deal is not here.”
  — Julio Torres (01:24)

• “Otherwise, the bank is just benefiting from my misfortune, from the misfortune of people who can't afford to make any mistakes, from people who have no margin of error. It's policy.”
  — Julio Torres as Alejandro in Problemista (04:10)

• “It’s almost like the bureaucracy becomes this bouncy castle that the characters just get to play and laugh about.”
  — Julio Torres (14:18)

• “I have never had a credit card... I aspire to never have credit or rely on credit for anything. I’m terrified of the idea of owing anything to anyone. It would make me really uncomfortable to buy a home...”
  — Julio Torres (22:51)

• “Her hair was just constantly in a fight with itself. And that really gave Tilda the fuel for the character of just imagining that every time that Elizabeth sees her reflection in the mirror, she's adjusting her bangs, she's adjusting the size of her fringes. And she gets so angry about the hairdresser who promised her that she would look exactly like the photo she showed her in a magazine.”
  — Julio Torres on creating Swinton's look (24:48)

• “I don’t really think I’m doing something that no one does. I think I never stopped doing the thing that we all [do as children].”
  — Julio Torres (40:21)

Key Timestamps

• 01:24 — Julio Torres’ “navy blue” bit from Color Theories
• 03:48 — Problemista bank scene: the overdraft and “protection” paradox
• 10:15 — Torres describes humbling fundraising for a visa via GoFundMe, discovering community
• 12:25 — Meaning and invention of "Problemista"
• 14:18 — Torres frames bureaucracy as comedic inspiration
• 18:04 — On difficult New Yorkers and his odd attraction to them
• 22:32 — Feeling “too much”; not fitting into the basic structures of adulthood
• 24:48 — Designing Tilda Swinton’s visual transformation
• 27:42 — The importance of collaboration, rooted in relationship with his mother
• 34:27 — How not having stand-up comedy in El Salvador led to an original comedic voice
• 36:53 — Satirical bit about a Happy Meal toy as a genocidal Disney villain
• 39:28 — On never losing a childlike creativity with objects

Tone and Takeaways

Torres’ warmth, offbeat wit, and gentle but pointed philosophical humor shine throughout, as Gross invites him to unpack both the practical frustrations of immigrant life and the creative flourishes that give his work its surreal, empathic power. The episode is full of empathy for those struggling through bureaucratic mazes, delight in the collaborative act of creation, and subtle, knowing laughs at the absurdity of modern systems and expectations.

Fresh Air listeners come away with a deep sense of how Torres turns personal anxiety, immigrant liminality, and “problems” into art—never losing a sense of play, or community, or hope.

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